Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

> > You can get the netpbm source code from sourceforge (it might be
> > sourceforge.netpbm.org).
>
> No Slackware package maker seems to be able to keep up with the large
> number of source releases from the netpbm project.

The maintainer is extremely conscientious.  He immediately fixed bugs that 
I reported in two programs (one of them still would not work right 
though).  And he updates netpbm to work with the latest format (such as 
mutil-page tiff).

> I ran make with the -k option (it skipped compiling anything which would
> not build with libc5). There are probably many things that were left out.
> Also, there have been several netpbm releases since that time, with many
> new features/bugfixes.
>
>
> What should we do about this situation? Obviously, a new netpbm package
> would be useful. But how should it be compiled? If it is statically compiled,
> a lot of space is wasted. If it is built against libc5, some useful
> features will
> be left out. If it is built against glibc, some users will need to update 
> their
> libraries. Your thoughts? (what about uclibc?)

Since BL3 works fine with the SW81 libc6 added to it, I would like to see 
netpbm compiled for BL2 with that library, which is only 1-2MB (I think). 
Or at least with the SW71 libc6 (2.1.3) if all programs will compile with 
it.

We were just given a color (!) laser printer, made by Minolta, whose tech 
support dept. sent me details on how to add the missing (it was dead) hard 
drive (regular laptop drive) and how to load software for use with linux.
(They even explain how to deal with a .tar.Z file).  So I might also be 
interested in other netpbm programs that modify colors.    Has anyone used 
a color laser printer with BL yet?

We also found an 8MB pcmcia memory card which takes memory_cs, which I 
presume I can set up similarly to the compact flash adaptor (use cardmgr 
-o to determine what goes into 'config') that will upgrade the 133MHz 
pentium from 16 to 24MB and let us use netpbm in real time.  But I think 
we also need a swap file because it conks out on the 486 with 24MB with 
files more than 640x480 res when I try to rotate a photo.

Anyway, I can think of lots of uses for netpbm, and it would be more 
convenient to use with BL2 if I did not also have to keep libc5 on hand 
and point things at other libraries built with it.

> David